Blog Archives

Ever found yourself frustrated trying to get everyone around the same idea? Of course. Who hasn’t? The frustration setting in for many business and organization leaders is not plan or purpose. Its people. Millennials are frustration de jour. They think different. Act different. Perform different. Partner different. Buy different. Sell different. And, different leads to frustration. The honesty of understanding is found in knowing that M’s want three things really. They want to add value to the organization so they can feel purposeful (this is different from useful. Don’t confuse them). They want to know that they are valued in an organization (this is different from wanting to complete a directed task. They want to understand their role in the larger process) They want to work with a valuable organization (this is the core part of the “change the world’ DNA you need and they will bring to your ORG.) I want to help you not be frustrated by M’s. Heres a bit of help. Try using a few of these questions at your next organizational meeting when Gen M’s are in the mix to understand where they are on the timeline of Value, Valued, Valuable (Our M’er is named, John):

Value: Every Millennial wants to add value to an organization.

• ‘John, what do you think about this?’ or ‘John, how would you present this widget‘
• ‘John, your good at _______. How would your skill set make this work for others?’

Valued: Every Millennial wants to know that they are personally valued by an organization. 

• ‘John, lets grab coffee (then don’t talk about work).’
• ‘John, nice work on that widget. Can you change this part of it a bit?’
• ‘Thanks for thinking through this with me. Is there something more you think we need here?’

Valuable: Every Millennial wants to be a part of an organization that is valuable.

• ‘John, how do you think that idea will help people do ________?’
• ‘John, you made a difference with your idea to _______________. Do you see that?’
• ‘John, last year we served our community by ________________. How could we do more of that?’

These are a few quick statements. You will need to make them your own. They need to honest. M’s don’t shy away from process but they do walk away when process is cloudy as to value, valued and valuable. How are you using Gen M in your organization?